Black January? A foreign plot, says Sri Lankan government

On Monday, I wrote about two
demonstrations scheduled for Sri Lanka this week. Both were meant to
commemorate the ugly string of anti-press attacks in recent Januaries, which has included journalists
killed and abducted, television stations bombed, websites attacked, and media
offices torched. But Wednesday's Black January effort,
publicized by the Free Media Movement (FMM) and other media support groups, was
sabotaged and had to be moved at the last minute. A source in Colombo gave the
following account, the outlines of which were confirmed by other CPJ sources:

Earlier in the day the government got a court order limiting
the protest to a small area in front of the Colombo Fort Railway Station, but
then packed the place with their stooges, brought in on two Sri Lanka Transport
Board buses. These people were provided with placards, denouncing the protesters as
LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] supporters and saying the event was being
funded by NGO dollars. These people were also provided with food and beverages.
Because of this, the Black January protest had to be moved to Lipton Circus ... In
the days prior to the event state media had been carry out a heavy campaign
against the FMM and other media organizations, claiming they are all traitors
and that Black January was being held now in order to influence [U.N. officials]
and therefore was a traitorous act.

The FMM protest went uncovered in state-run media, although the
government-controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation did produce a story accusing
the organizers of anti-Sri
Lankan activities. Here's an excerpt:

The Secretary of the Media Secretaries Association Harsha
Abeykoon said that certain media groups who are slavish for foreign funds are
attempting to create a dark picture about the motherland. The National Organizer
of that association said that the objective of this dollar funded media
personnel is to disrupt the development process being launched by the
President. He is emphasized that all media personnel should join hands to foil
the NGO instigated attempts of this anti national media group. The Convener of
the Independent Mass Media Organization Sarath Kumara said that the
false information saying that there is no media freedom in the country
should be exposed to the whole world. He said that there is ample freedom of
expression in Sri Lanka.

CPJ research shows that nine journalists have been murdered
in Sri Lanka since President Mahinda Rajapaksa rose to power. All of the cases involve
journalists critical of the government, and all are unsolved. The bombing,
abduction, attacks, and threats of Januaries past have also gone unpunished by
authorities. At least 25 other Sri Lankan journalists have been forced to flee
their homes in the face of threats. For those critical of Rajapaksa's
government, free expression has had a high, even lethal, price.

Another demonstration
this week sought to highlight this record of reprisal. It was largely organized
by Sandhya Eknelygoda, wife of columnist and cartoonist Prageeth Eknelygoda who
had criticized the government before
he went missing on January 24, 2010. It was more low-key effort, though its
demand for information from the government about disappeared journalists and others
was no less compelling than the Black January demonstration. With banners bearing slogans like "Give me a family, find my
husband and children" the
protesters carried candles and photographs of their missing friends and
relatives while marching to a church where they prayed for news of their loved
ones. The group was considerably smaller than Wednesday's, and the government
apparently felt no compulsion to interfere with it.

Bob Dietz, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia Program, has reported across the continent for news outlets such as CNN and Asiaweek. He has led numerous CPJ missions, including ones to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Follow him on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk.